A plain romantic comedy that really doesn't succeed or fail, "Little Black Book" coasts along fairly uneventfully, offering up a few laughs and a good bit or two before the credits roll. Brittany Murphy, offered up here for the first time in a role where she has to carry the movie, doesn't do terribly well, revealing a rather lackluster ability to play comedy (although, to her credit, the screenplay isn't particularly funny) or the film's emotional moments. I've liked Murphy in the past, but she's gone a little too long without doing anything new.

Here, Murphy stars as Stacy Holt, a young woman who finds herself settling on a job on the local Kippie Kann show, a talk show that resembles Jerry Springer or Jenny Jones. She's having a great relationship with Derek (Ron Livingston of "Office Space"), but she's curious about his past relationships after hearing that he once dated a girl that's now a model. After encouragement from her co-worker, Barb (Holly Hunter), Stacy takes Derek's palm pilot and tries to do some investigating of her own, meeting up with Lulu (Josie Maran), Joyce (Julianne Nicholson, offering the film's best performance) and gynecologist Katie (Rashida Jones).

There's a small, decent idea at the core of the film - with palm pilots and other such electronics becoming a part of the dating world these days, it's fairly easy to see how these gadgets could be become part of the plot of a film like this. Writers Melissa Carter and Elisa Bell, however, really don't mine much from it, going for sitcom situations and thinly-realized characters. It could also have done a nice parody or behind-the-scenes look at talk/reality shows, but the "Kippy Kann" (played pretty well by Kathy Bates) segments aren't memorable. There's some interesting bits towards the end, as the film takes a twist or two, but it's a little too late.

There are some bright spots here, though. Holly Hunter provides an energetic, funny performance that livens up the material quite a bit. Murphy is still likable, but "Book" doesn't show that she's able to hold her own in this kind of role. Livingston is satisfactory in a limited role, as is Kathy Bates. Direction by Nick Hurran (the Brit comedy "Virtual Sexuality") is fairly low-key, and the film could use a bit more spark and energy. Theo van de Sande's cinematography is fine, and Christophe Beck's score works.

This mixture of comedy and drama doesn't work as well as it should, but it does present some specks of ideas regarding work and relationships. The film never gets the mixture of light and emotional that well though, (the light parts aren't funny and the drama is too sappy), and Murphy demonstrates that she should probably be part of an ensemble instead of carrying her own film.